6 arrested in China killing blamed on cult members

BEIJING (AP) — Police in eastern China say six members of a religious cult have been arrested over the beating death of a woman at a McDonald's restaurant.

The Zhaoyuan police department said Saturday that the accused allegedly attacked the woman after she refused to tell them her phone number.

It said the six belonged to a group calling itself the "All-powerful spirit" and had been collecting phone numbers in an effort to recruit new members.

Zhaoyuan is in Shandong province, a traditional hotbed for religious cults that gave birth to the violent anti-Christian Boxer movement that laid siege to Western interests in Beijing and elsewhere during the waning years of the Qing dynasty in 1900.

State broadcaster CCTV said religious material had been found at a location linked to the sect.